Isn’t it nice to live in the Midwest where we only have blizzards and tornados? Wow, two majorwithin two weeks hitting the southern coast of the U.S. It made for great television viewing and press coverage during that time, with the cost of clean up, repair, recovery and human misery being huge. In the Midwest the major cost to us is in the higher cost of fuel while the refineries make the assessments and repairs to their electronics before they can bring them back on line.
One good thing is that the technology to identify and gauge such storms when they are in their infancy have advanced so much in the last few decades so everyone gets advance notification to get out of the way, buckle up, batten down or get out of Dodge before the storms hit. As to clean up after flood waters hit, anyone who has had to clean up and do the replace/repair work after a basement floods can identify the problems after Texas type domestic flooding occurs.
In Florida the main point was that they somewhat dodged the bullet in that the major storm surge predicted at 10 to 15 feet did not materialize. They did record wind speeds of 142 mph in Naples and above 120 in quite a few locales. Anyone who knows how to swing a hammer could keep busy in both states for the near future.
The Corn Crop in the Midwest
The condition of the corn in the state rates from completely dead to still green and filling. Over the first weekend in September the appearance of many fields in central Iowa changed dramatically in that many turned brown on a high % of the leaves and came close to complete senescence. This occurred before the normal timing of maturity and before the normal grain fill had completed. The kernels on those plants shrunk down and have now formed a black layer. Yields declined from what should have been and there is a high chance of poor stalk quality.
Some of those fields that died early were in the extreme drought areas, while others were close to fields that have stayed green and factors other than lack of moisture were involved. One management step that appears to have helped was the application of foliar ammonia based nitrogen which helped to keep the plants from cannibalizing the upper leaves. A larger factor would have been the plugging of the vascular system of the plant which blocked the flow of water and nutrients to the leaves and developing ears.
Looking to 2018
The high pressure ridges that blocked the flow of Harvey or Irma moisture flow into the central Midwest still seems to be in place. Does that mean that fall moisture will be scarce and partially filling the moisture profile will not happen? And that we will plant next season's crops with a half or quarter tank of water is a possibility. If that is the case what steps or practices might have to be taken or implemented to minimize water stress problems. Right now there are four or five steps that would be recommended as key to forming a deeper root system, degrading residue quicker and building soil health faster, getting minerals into the plant even if the top foot of soil is dry and then helping to increase water use efficiency.
Stalk Degradation
With the increasing difficulty in controlling waterhemp there are going to be growers that move to growing more second year corn. The challenge then will be to find a way to degrade the stalks more rapidly so the residue will be beneficial in increasing moisture infiltration and retention, buffering temperature extremes, and releasing mineral components to the 2018 crop. The first method of stalk breakdown and perhaps the first program that corn growers consider is often using chopping heads or stalk shredders. Both of those work but are either expensive or high maintenance items. The second method or one that could follow mechanically breaking the stalks would be applying a microbial mix to the field that would have various function. Those might be to degrade the stalks this fall and perhaps dissolve insect eggs and parasitic nematodes and then in the spring stimulate plant growth, produce organic acids freeing up bound minerals for the new plants, fix nitrogen and deepen the root profile.
We are currently getting educated on a newer company that has years of experience in doing bioremediation of soils contaminated with oil spills and industrial compounds. So far what we have seen in the field as to producing a healthy, drought proofed crop due to increased soil health and better availability of more minerals with a product from a company called BioDyne Midwest, a company from Fort Wayne, IN looks very impressive and worth trying this fall.
The Weather
Months ago a few climatologists willing to stick their necks out predicted that there was a risk of frost in different parts of the Midwest on the first Tuesday in September. Some people listened carefully and some scoffed. The 32 F and lower temps did not invade the corn of the corn belt but it should be noted that there was an area that stretched from northern Minnesota southwest to NW Nebraska where temperatures dropped as low as 29 degrees. One astute crops person did calculations to figure out based on emergence date versus this first frost as to the percent chance that grain fill at a dozen locations in Nebraska would have been affected. The % chance with a May 15th emergence ranged from 10-16- 40% while the percentage risk for a crop that emerged on May 31 ranged from 33 to 86% of damage to yield.
Ear Molds
Several universities are already providing advice on scouting for and giving guidance on how to handle corn where ear molds are appearing. The three identified ones are Diplodia, Gabriella and Aspergillus. The first produces a white to grayish/greenish growth if it was dry before silking before turning wet in the 21 days after silking. With Gibb the growth is often a pinkish color. Wet weather in the three weeks after silking is typically implicated. With the third type drought during the season is the dominating factor.
The major issue with these are the mycotoxins they produce and the effect expected if fed to animals susceptible livestock. Scout your fields now to see if these are present in your fields and you are feeding your own grain. Also recognize that several of the toxins are heat stable and running contaminated grain thru an ethanol plant will concentrate them three or four fold.
Soybeans
Something not yet fully identified, stress related, is causing a high % of the soybean fields to yellow up before their due date. Either way the start to soybean harvest is likely less than two weeks away. So the next two weeks will be filled with making preparations to harvest and grain handling equipment. May you have the best of luck in getting this work done.
Bob Streit is an independent crop consultant and columnist for Farm News. He can be reached at (515) 709-0143 or www.CentralIowaAg.com.